Emerging powers news roundup
This week’s emerging powers news casts a spotlight on domestic developments in China; such as privatization of state-owned enterprises, the governance system, law and order. Elsewhere, China, India and Brazil continue to expand their investment footprint and hunt for resources in Africa and beyond.
China’s governance
Central Committee meets
Signs of China’s leadership succession may emerge from next week’s annual meeting of the Communist Party of China’s Central Committee More...
Thomas Friedman on one-party rule
Prominent New York Times Op-Ed columnist Thomas L Friedman pays China’s political system an unexpected compliment; ‘One-party autocracy certainly has its drawbacks. But when it is led by a reasonably enlightened group of people, as China is today, it can also have great advantages’. More...
local lawlessness
But Kerry Brown at ‘Open Democracy’ reporting on a month-long tour of China, finds ‘ great swathes of the country under the effective sway of local gangs and thugs ruling according to private interest. After the country’s imminent sixtieth-birthday party this should be Hu Jintao’s top priority’. More...
SOE privatisation
Recent disputes over the privatisation of state-owned enterprises show that ‘...The strikes and protests have highlighted once again the arbitrary and unilateral nature of SOE privatization in China. Workers are not consulted and usually presented with a “take it or leave it” ultimatum’ More...
China’s stimulus continues
Wen Jiabao at Dalian summit
Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao outlined China’s continuing economic stimulus programme in his speech to the 2009 Summer Davos meeting at Dalian in North-East China. More...
New port to cope with growing raw material imports
The BBC’s correspondent took the opportunity of the Dalian meeting to report on the massive expansion of Dalian port to cope with raw material imports from all over the world including Africa. Investment continues despite the recession. More...
FDI boom continues
In the first increase for 11 months, foreign direct investment in China rose by 7 per cent in August compared to the same month last year as the economic recovery continued. More...
Procedures to be simplified
Commerce Ministry officials were cautious about the figures however, and predicted that policies will be reformed and simplified to boost FDI further. More...
Goldman raises 2009 Asia growth forecast
Economies in Asia excluding Japan will grow 5.6 percent this year, and 8.6 percent in 2010, Goldman Sachs said, lifting its forecasts. Goldman left its forecast for India's growth unchanged in the current fiscal year, and raised it to 7.8 percent for the 12 months ending March 2011. China will grow 9.4 percent this year and 11.9 percent in 2010, Goldman said. More...
Trading networks to shift as China keeps growing
Shipping industry experts predict that China’s continued growth will lead to a rebalancing of global trade, with implications for shipping lines, air cargo and express parcel operators, as well as port and transport infrastructure developers. More...
Oil and its implications
China’s new model in overseas oil strategy
China has taken advantage of the recession to lock in future oil supplies - not just by the old route of buying up concessions but by a new model of loan-for-oil deals with key states such as Brazil, Kazakhstan and Russia, as risk analyst Fareed Mohamedi explains. More...
US joins the rush to get in to Angola
Angloa’s booming economy, already the recipient of China’s loan-for-oil strategy, is attracting growing US interest as last month’s visit by Hilary Clinton showed. More...
‘They came like animals’ - poor pay the price of Luanda’s urban boom
In a familiar pattern, the population of Luanda’s informal settlements pay the price as the economic booom and soaring property values lead to forced evictions to clear the space for ‘redevelopment’. More...
The dragon and anaconda: China, Brazil and power balance in Americas
In 2007 trade between China and Brazil reached US$29 billion and grew to an impressive $43 billion by the end of 2008. As well as oil and other raw materials the relation extends to sensitive areas such as space technology, aviation and military-related technologies, as Loro Horta explains. More...
African firms eye BP, Shell Zimbabwe assets
Two African oil firms are reported to be lining up to make an offer for BP and Shell’s Zimbabwean assets in anticipation of growth under the unity government. More...
Trade, aid and investment
Investment zone planned in Mauritius
A planned $820 million Chinese trade and development zone in Mauritius is expected to strengthen the island's $9 billion economy as well as being a launch pad for Chinese operations in the region. More...
Standard Bank gets $1bn loan facility from China
Standard Bank has won a $1 billion (R7.4bn) loan facility from four Chinese banks, which will be used to plug a lending gap which had threatened its bid to invest in Africa and Asia. More...
Chinese trade and aid boost Botswana
Standard Bank has just opened a China-Africa SME network in Botswana. A local Minister has praised the role Chinese investors have played in employment and skills transfer, and their donations to local community projects. More...
China partnering, not plundering, in Africa
Beijing is worried about culturally naive Chinese companies damaging its image in Africa, but thinks the perception that it is only after cheap oil and minerals is unfair, according to its Ambassador to Pretoria. More...
Ogun state pitches for investment
Nigeria’s Ogun state has signed a trade agreement with China’s Shandong province as part of a drive to make the state a hub for inward investment. More...
Ghana To Export Palm Oil To China
Ghana is to export 36,000 metric tonnes of palm oil to China next year following the conclusion of a $21.6 million deal between Chyuan Chya Ghana Limited and the China-Africa Economic Trade Limited. More...
India’s growing footprint
Tanzanian PM in India on four-day visit
Co-operation in areas ranging from agriculture to foreign policy were on the agenda as Tanzania’s Prime Minister arrived in India for a four day visit. According to Tanzanian government statistics, during 1990-2006, 118 companies with Indian interests have invested $825 million in Tanzania. More...
Indian firms funded to buy plantations
The state-run Export-Import Bank of India (Exim Bank) will fund Indian firms to acquire plantation estates in African and South American countries, according to a top bank official. More...
India Signs Agreement With Namibia for Diamond, Copper Mines
India has signed an agreement with the Namibian government for access to the country’s copper and diamond mines, according to India’s Mines Minister. More...